Half Life:Wasteland

[Shanno]

Prologue:

The creature twitched involuntarily, scraping its back along the jagged wall at the bottom of the stinking fetid pit that it had, some days before, come to rest in. The creature itself was undoubtedly once human, that much you could tell by looking at it, though what remained of its humanity had doubtlessly fled long ago, when the pulsating mass of flesh fixed its mandibles into the skull, cracking it open with all the ease and grace of a coconut and a sledgehammer.

Muscles continued to twich, reacting to the complex flood of neurochemicals the headcrab had been pumping into it; soon its host would begin to respond to the commands of the headcrab, but not yet; the process had not finished, and, out here in the wasteland, to have survived this far without turning into a meal for some other disgruntled creature was a miracle in itself, and, if the creature could feel such things, would most likely be grateful its unfortunate host had, in a flurry of panic and disgust, tripped on a fallen tree root and fell through the old barricades of an abandoned mine shaft. The fall alone had killed the host, broken its back and both its legs before the lifeless body rolled to the bottom of the pit; undeterred, the headcrab, in its own obscene way, was healing the body, knitting broken bones and mending rended flesh; the mind it did not need, but the reanimation was taking longer than usual, abiet because of the shattered spine

But the headcrab didnt care, and soon it would begin to feed.....

Chapter 1 on the way

 

[Shanno]

Chapter 1: Portal Storms

The rain fell in drenching sheets, soaking all who were stupid enough to step out into it; but there in the sodden wilderness stood a man, gazing towards the nearby mountains, seemingly unmindful of the downpour that was drenching him and his dog.

Strange things had been happening in the mountains, or so he had been told, but he hadnt beleived it. Now, staring up at the mountains, he wasnt so sure; usually foggy, the mountains were almost always shrouded completely in mist, today though, wind from unexpalined sources was whipping the fog around in wild vertices, almost like a hurricane.

Shouldering his hunting rifle, the man, who had lived near the foot of the mountains his whole life, started making his way up the windy track towards the foot of the behemoth, pushing the storys he had heard back in town into the back of his mind; tales of flashing lights and strange gnarled creatures, people were fearing that some sort of alien invasion was coming;

Horseshit the man had thought..aliens dont exist right? wiping the rain from his brow he continued up the track; this week had been the strangest in history, or so the media had been calling it; starting off with a supposedly unexplained nuclear explosion somewhere in mexico, who noone new any details about, the military had been suprisingly tight lipped over the events, and the strange reports that follwed it. there had been numerous reports the world over that strange strorms had come rolling out of nowhere, brightly coloured displays of whirling winds and lightning, and creatures supposedly 'beaming' out of nowhere.

shit to that the man thought, the latter was a load of crap, media sensation was at its worst, and had been gettin worse for years now, anything for a story right? so the man made his way up the track, trying to get closer the the strange storm the was brewing....

 

[Ravioli]

lol, u posted this so long ago and no reply? I feel sorry for you........and i feel ashame that i havenet even read it yet....

 

[eatbugs]

Personally I think it is quite well written except for how long is is though..

 

[InstInct1085]

the the strange storm the was brewing....

Nice so far, but ehh check your spelling

 

[Asknoone]

Great, its definatley different.

 

[knut]

Yeah, good stuff.

 

[Shanno]

yeah dont worry guys will update soon havin comp troubles atm

 

[Shanno]

Wasteland Chapter 2ortal Storms continued

Ok heres portal stroms continued, feedback is appreciated!!

The rain had stopped at least, surrendering to the bleak greyness of an overcast day; The Man had been climbing steadily for over two hours now, more mindful of the strange occurrences that were taking place somewhere up in the mountain, he could no longer see the freak winds and strange lights, but the howling noises told him that they were still happening, and he was not far off.

Finally, after what felt like hours the gradient in the hill levelled out, revealing an enclosed meadow, bordered on all sides by the jutting crag of the peak of the mountain; The Man stared in wonder at the sight which lay before him. A huge vortex of green light spun wildly in the middle of the field, whipped into a frenzy by the wind trapped in the bowl of the meadow; Arcs of lightning zapped out from the lip of what the man thought to be a portal and spun along with the wind. Abruptly, the mans wonder turned to horror as a bolt of lightning arced out and smashed into the ground about 40 feet from where he was standing. The force was enough to lift him off the ground and sending him flying into the tree line.

Groggy and frightened, The Man sat up, fighting the waves of nausea and dizziness; He must have hit his head hard, but the scene in front of him caused him to forget the nausea; The lightning strike had blown a large hole in the ground, and lit several small fires at the lip of the hole; Through the haze and smoke of the strike, The Man saw something move. Gasping with dismay he ducked down behind a fallen branch and watched the scene unfold before him, and realised the stories spoken around the bar in hushed, excited conversations about alien invasions were true.

A humanoid arm reached up over the lip of the hole, badly charred and bleeding, though it wasn’t normal blood, it was something else; a different colour and texture from normal human blood. Finding purchase on the charred soil, the arm tensed, and the rest of the body heaved itself up over the edge of the hole. It was roughly humanoid, with a large elongated head and one large ruby coloured eye that wrapped around the things face. Brilliant green skin was blackened and charred in many places; It was obviously hurt, that much was apparent, by the creatures drunk looking movements as it crawled along the ground making deep guttural noises with whatever it called a throat.

It continued to crawl as the intensity of the lightning heightened, apparently coming to a crescendo and sending off more booming explosions along the ground. Crawling towards him, though, as he was frozen in a state of abstract terror, the man could do nothing but watch as the strange green creature crawled towards him with movements that could only be described as frantic. Was it trying to get clear of the storm? With a sudden movement the creature arched its back and groaned as a large arachnid looking mound of flesh sunk large cruel looking claws into the creatures lower back while it loped its way steadily forward with mindless intensity towards the creatures skull; With a final repulsive movement the crab-spider reached the bulk of its body over the green creatures head and with a sickening crunch, forced the creatures cranium into an orifice along the bottom of the crab things body and stuck fast, in an obscene parody that reminded The Man of a movie he had watched a few years back in which aliens from outer space laid chest bursting monsters in people.

The creature stopped crawling and began thrashing in frantic un-coordinated movements, trying without much luck to dislodge the thing from its head as the flesh crab pulsated on the top of its head, the creature made one final movement and lay still succumbing to the assault that had been wreathed upon it.

Deep in The Man’s sub conscious, the ‘fight or flight’ instinct clicked, galvanising him into action. Looking around wildly, he saw his rifle resting at the foot of a tree some yards away, obviously landing there after the explosion; Of his dog there was no sign, opting for the smarter option of flight, The Man thought as he grabbed his Gun, a modified Mossberg 12 Gauge pump, and started off towards the path, when he stopped. Were there more of those head spider things? And what the **** was that alien thing? turning around The Man made his cautious way back towards the body of the ‘alien’ glancing occasionally at the green portal thing, which seemed to be dying down now that the lightning had stopped arcing.

The Man was not a coward, not in the sense of the word, he was a smart man, a smart farmer and it took a lot to get him to cringe, and while his senses were telling him to flee, something about the green alien made him turn back. There seemed to be nothing hostile about the way the creature had approached him. Had it seen him? He didn’t think so it was hurt, maybe he could help it; He had to do something

As he reached the body of the twitching alien, he focused his attention on the spider thing which had now dug its four pincer like legs into the neck and shoulders of the unfortunate creature, giving it a tentative nudge with the barrel of his rifle. ‘Stuck fast’ thought The Man as a sudden rustling in the long grass a ways off alerted him to the fact that more things had indeed come through what The Man now new was a portal of some kind. Shouldering the gauge, he pumped a round into the chamber and pointed it at the area where the spider had latched onto its head, and pulled the trigger; Bone and sinew exploded sending an arc of ropy fluid splattering along the ground as the green thing made one more spasmodic shudder and lay still, unknown to the Man as he had already set off at high speed towards the windy track that would lead him back down the mountain, and to safety.

As The Man reached the first bend of the track he slowed to a trot. Panting heavily he turned behind him to see if he was being followed…or hunted. His sense of relief was short lived though, as something heavy and repulsive landed on his back, forcing him down to the ground. Painful claws dug into his back as The Man writhed in panic, knowing that the thing on his back was about to try and eat his brains. In his Panic, he stumbled through the bushland as the head crab sought to gain purchase on his head, not knowing or caring as he crashed through the worn and rotten barricade of a now disused mine shaft.

Before The Man blacked out from the sickening crunch of his back being snapped in two he felt the head crab gain purchase on his head, and then, the first victim of the portal storm, which would then give way to what humankind would come to call the ‘Seven Hour War’ died, lying at the bottom of a long abandoned shaft.

Though dead, his body would not lie there for long……

Next Chapter: Exodus (ON THE WAY) stay tuned!!

 

[Shanno]

Chapter 3 - Exodus

Jancer ran through the empty street, pausing every now and then to take quick, fleeting glances behind him. Something had been chasing him, and it was Big. Slowing to a walk, he holstered his pistol, a Colt .45 Government issue and crouched down behind a pile of rubble to take his bearings.

It was two days ago now, that the proverbial shit had hit the fan; but not just any shit, this shit was bad, was out of this world, and in the little town he had called home for most of his life, it was down right extraordinary; The little township of Graes Hamlet was nestled near the foot of a large mountain out in the middle of nowhere. A quiet place, Jancer had grown up in relatively quiet surroundings, until last week, when all the strange things started happening. At first Jancer didn’t believe it himself, but, after a few nights of alcohol fuelled stories at the Hamlets only bar with his mates, he wasn’t so sure. The town, albeit the whole world, was abuzz with news of the massive nuclear explosion up in Mexico, now that was news if there was any; but even more so the news of the strange weather fluctuations that had begun proceeding the explosion. Though not covered in the news, there were thousands of eye witness reports in the papers of strange lights in the sky and weird storms that were appearing out of nowhere, only to disappear all of a sudden.

Jancer, on his fifth beer, had taken it all with a grain of salt, convinced the story his friend Peter was slurring in his ear was the result of one-to-many syndrome, a tale of strange lights up in the mountain. “Saw it last night” he’d whispered into Jancer’s ear. “I was out takin a leak in the back garden and I saw this green circle of light about two thirds up the mountain”

“Bullshit” Jancer had replied, growing bored with his friends embellishments, “probably just a plane or something” Peter leaned in closer, a hint of excitement in his grey eyes “Well whatever it is, I’m going up there tomorrow to check it out, whatever it is, its spooking the cattle and I’ll be god damned if I’m just going to sit and stare at it like an idiot, jeez Jance, why not come up with me?” “No can do friend, I’m stuck at home tomorrow, plumbers coming to fix my john” Jancer drained his beer “Okay I’m off, I’ll see you tomorrow, same time same place eh?” Peter gave him a wink and a mock salute as a farewell, and with that Jancer walked out the door. At that time he had no idea that he would never see his friend again, or know the grisly fate that awaited him.

Jancer had woken up that morning with a headache, a real eye splitter, and half walked, half stumbled to the bathroom. Man, think it was time to cut down on the brewskies he thought with a wince. After splashing some water on his face, and feeling somewhat better he padded to the porch with his morning coffee and looked out over the fields to the foot of the mountain, and abruptly dropped his mug as he stood in amazement at the sight before him. There was something in the field. It was humped and stood roughly 3 feet off the ground, Leathery skin stretched tight over a skeletal frame with a short, stubby tail, and it was feeding on the carcass of one of Jancer’s prize cows.

Hearing the mug shatter on the concrete the thing whipped its head around and focused itself on Jancer. It had a large head which tapered into a series of drooping tentacles, supposedly its mouth, dripping with fresh bovine blood from the cadaver it clutched in small but powerful claws. It studied Jancer for what seemed like an eternity before cocking its head and spitting a large wad of half digested meat at the startled human standing in the doorway. Jancer stumbled backwards as the wad of flesh and blood slammed into the wall next to where he was standing. “What the!?” Jancer broke off before he could finish, the thing in the paddock was charging at him, and although it was a fair way off, was closing the distance with small but powerful strides. Reacting on adrenalin, Jancer sprinted across the landing and reached a large, cabinet bolted to the wall. Whipping the door open revealed several rifles and a large bore Colt 45 Government auto; grabbing the latter and slamming a mag into place, he turn to see the thing skulking at the door scrutinizing him, and Jancer realised it was hocking up another wad of yum yum to spit at him. Acting accordingly, Jancer lifted the heavy pistol and took aim, firing at almost point blank range, catching the thing in the jaw and blowing a large bloody hole out the back of its skull.

Slumping to the floor, the thing shuddered and lay still; Jancer retched in disgust at the large pool of blood that was growing on the floor, inching towards his feet. What is going on here? He thought as he made his way to the bedroom. Throwing on a pair of jeans and a shirt, he was hyper alert for any out of place sounds in the usually quiet farm house. Keeping his eyes on the door, Jancer switched on the old television he kept next to the bed; flipping to the news channel, his confusion turned to horror as the chaotic scenes played out before him. Grainy footage of large humanoid thing splattered in blood with long, nightmarish claws loped down the street, hacking away at anything that got into the way. With a trembling finger, Jancer inched up the volume just enough so he could hear it and flipped slowly through the new channels

“………Running in fear as the strange creatures seem to be appearing out of no where……”

“………. More of these strange portal storms are said to be appearing all over the country side, destroying every thing in their path; a spokesperson for the national security agency declined to comment…..”

Jancer came to a stop at a channel that was showing bizarre footage of a man grappling with a crab like creature that looked like it was trying to force its way up to his head

“………People from all over the rural areas are running in fear as the strange creatures seem to be attacking anything at a whim. A massive exodus is now underway as the refugees make for the cities. Details are sketchy at the moment but we’ve just received word that large construction crews have begun building massive walled fortifications that will fully enclose t each city, which leads this reporter to believe that the government some how had advance knowledge of this invasion and that there is more to the story than what we’re being told…..”

“……….Thousands have either been killed or dragged off in what has been dubbed the Portal Storm Invasions……”

So here he was, in the middle of Graes Hamlet which was now mostly destroyed. He had made his way into the town by way of the back roads near his property, moving like a ghost amid a graveyard, and it took him the better half of a day and one night by foot. Up until a short while ago,he had not encountered any major problems, aside from the gut wrenching sight of what he at first thought to be humans kneeling around something that was lying on the ground. Jancer had almost called out to them, but, something just wasn’t right about the small group of people, the way they were crouching. Then he heard the tearing noises and realised they were Feasting on something. Jancer made his way quietly around a still burning pickup truck, and, with the advantage of a better angle, saw that they were not human at all, though, at some stage, they once were. Each had a large fleshy crablike thing resting snugly on his head, the same things he had seen on the television the day before. Each were splattered with blood and had a large, rending tear from the solar plexus down to the belly which Jancer realised, were spotted with sharp canine like fangs, these people had been changed somehow. Creeping back into the shadows Jancer had cut around the crab things with no further incident, until the chase……

Stay Tuned, Chapter 4 is on the way!

 

[Shanno]

Chapter 4 - Chase

From a distance it looked like a normal, quiet little township, save for the plumes of smoke rising into the sky, and the occasional blood curdling scream. Upon closer inspection of the town one would notice smashed windows, scattered detritus of exploded buildings and the odd severed limb and lots and lots of blood. A pack of dogs wandered down the street, seemingly oblivious to the chaos that had been wrought around them in the past few days, and on Main Street, a lone figure strode through the shadows, albeit cautiously, surveying the wreckage around him.

Jancer couldn’t believe the amount of damage that had been wrought on the little hamlet in so short a time. The first major portal storm had ripped through this very area, spewing strange creatures forth from its maw with devastating effectiveness. It had only taken a day, and while Jancer had been making his way into town by way of back roads and tracks, the assault on the hamlet had been swift and effective. The town was virtually empty; Jancer had not seen anyone since his drink with Pete. Pete Jancer thought; He went up the mountain; He didn’t think he’d see his friend ever again, be lucky to ever see anybody again; Yesterdays newscast had said that all the people left alive in the rural areas had hauled ass for the cities, where large fortifications were hastily being built to keep the monsters at bay. Jancer’s reasoning told him to find a safe place to hole up in for a short while, and try to gather information on what was happening to the rest of the world. The newscasts yesterday painted a grim picture for human kind indeed, so he decided to head for what he thought would be the safest place in town: the Sheriffs station.

Crouching low to avoid detection, Jancer edged along the wall of a partially burnt out building, mindful of the noises he was hearing from further down the alley way; it was a keening buzzing sound, like a swarm of bees. Edging closer, Jancer peeped around the corner to see a large stumpy creature, roughly six feet tall and built like a brick shit house. Mounted on its arm was a large, bio mechanical canon which was pointed directly at Jancer’s head. Jancer took off with a start, running madly back the way he had came, with the canon man in hot pursuit; He didn’t think a .45 would be any good against the things heavily armoured carapace, so he kept running, mindful of the debris strewn throughout the street. Hearing the buzzing noise again, Jancer noticed a small spiked projectile with tiny wings zing past his head, followed by another and another.

A sharp pain caught Jancer high in the shoulder, as one of the little wasps burrowed its way into his shoulder. The pain was monstrous, and as Jancer ducked around yet another corner he quick stepped into a large hole that had been blown into the side of the building, which he identified as the Hamlet Bank. Crouching low behind a pile of rubble he heard the big boy go stomping past up the road, and only when the footfalls had faded did Jancer stumble out into the street, half blinded by the pain of the little insect thing that had lodged itself close to his shoulder. Blood had soaked the back of his shirt and, almost sick with the pain he made his way across the street to the chemist.

No need to knock in this hamlet, ladies and Gentlemen, this chemist was missing a door, ripped off sometime yesterday when the portal storm had whipped through no doubt. Almost blacking out from the horrendous, vibrating pain in his shoulder, Jancer crashed around the chemist; grabbing a first aid kit, he barricaded himself in the back room and set to work on his shoulder.
With a pair of forceps in his left hand, Jancer reached around his neck and, winced as he dug the business end of the forceps deep into the gaping hole left by the buzzer. Finding purchase, with a quick ripping motion he tore the ghastly thing out of his shoulder. Dropping the still buzzing thing into a waiting beaker, Jancer promptly vomited explosively, retching from the bile that permeated his senses. Washing his mouth out with a bottle of fresh water, he swallowed two Morpheate pills and promptly passed out.

Stay Tuned for Chapter 5: World Merge

 

[Marx! II]

Not bad at all.
Things tend to find purchase.

 

[Shanno]

Chapter 5 - Worldmerge

The Strange looking creature ran down the war torn street, gasping for breath and clutching at a bloody wound high on its back. In its other hand it held a shiny metallic object in a sweaty, five fingered hand. In its haste, it failed to notice the Vortigaunt crouched in the shadows scrutinising its desperate bid to evade the larger creature that was in pursuit. The Vortigaunt had never seen a human being before, nor had it never been on earth before; it put its hands to its head and willed away the throbbing pain that had set in since the events that had flung it, and many of its kind, through to this strange new planet.

Focusing its energies, The Vortigaunt tried again unsuccessfully to establish contact with its masters; nothing. The Vortigaunt had always been able to communicate with others of its kind, and, the race that had kept it and its people in bondage for centuries. The intricate web of a collective hive mind was all the Vortigaunt had ever known; it had only ever done the bidding of the Nihilanth, Its leader, and, about a week ago, a mighty scream had pierced the Vortigaunts mind, the scream of the Nihilanth, driving the creature and its kind to its knees as the hive mind was severed by the death of the mighty slaver. Strange images flickered through its mind of strange installations and even stranger creatures dressed in funny white coats, men attacking each other with the strange weapons that the human it was scrutinising was carrying in its left hand; and the clearest off all, the saviour, the human who had saved the vortigaunts from slavery, had toppled the Nihilanth….the Freeman… And then, with a final wrenching tear inside its brain, the creature was flung through time and space…only to awake here, in this strange place.

The Vortigaunt watched as the human emerged from behind the pile of rubble and staggered across the street towards a building, and was in two minds. Should it attempt to make contact with the human? It assessed its options, though the Vortigaunt had never actually seen a human before, it knew from the hive mind collective that they were a usually passive species, not quick to anger, but dangerous when backed into a corner. The un-predicatability of the human may bring death to the Vortigaunt. Maybe I should destroy it before it destroys me….
Making up it mind, the creature emerged from its hiding place and stalked across the street towards the building where the human had holed up in……

 

[Asknoone]

Love it

 

[Jandor]

I like it.